Geekmas 2016: Hope Springs Eternal

The Christmas season is coming fast upon us, and with it, the inevitable challenge of gift-giving.  Secret Santa names have been drawn at the workplace, and our departmental potluck Christmas luncheon and gift exchange is scheduled for December 16th.

One of the new arrivals in our department expressed her surprise that the Secret Santa process was specific rather than general - that might make it easier, but I sadly suspect that if we were required to buy a completely generic present for the exchange, we'd have a big box with 20 bottles of wine in it. Given that we have one member of our department who is a long-standing member of Alcoholics Anonymous, this is not a perfect solution.

As it is, we rely upon a system of whispered inquiries and occasional name-swapping in order to find appropriate co-worker gifts.  In some cases, people have posted suggestions near their desks - I seem to be the only person with an online wish list.

The funny thing is that I don't ever seem to get any of the things that I list online. Having said that, I certainly don't want to suggest that I've been disappointed by the gifts I've received in the past.  In fact, I've been quite impressed by the degree of thought and imagination that people have put into the selection of geek-appropriate presents for me.  Still, you'd think that some poor desperate person would have taken the easy way out by now.  On which note...

Movies

Sigh - still no classic Doctor Who episodes, and both The Day of the Triffids (any version, but preferably the original 1962 movie) and The Creature from the Black Lagoon are still on the list of unfulfilled requests.  More recent choices would be Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Batman Versus Superman, and Star Trek: Beyond.   I checked on Amazon.ca and all of the movies come in under $25 in Blu-ray format - old Doctor Who episodes tend to be DVD only, and often a bit more expensive than they really should be.

Actually, come to think of it, I don't have ANY Star Trek movies on Blu-ray...

Books
About two-thirds of last year's list still stands:  Fran Wilde's Updraft, Elizabeth Bear's Karen Memory, Ian McDonald's Luna, Naomi Novik's Uprooted, and Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace.  They should all be affordable paperbacks at this point.

Toys

I think that if I was trying to come up with a name for a toy company, it would be hard to beat BOOMCo, which appears to be the licensed manufacturer of firearms from the first-person shooter Halo game franchise.  The weapon of choice is the UNSC Marine Magnum Blaster foam dart gun, which would go on the shelf beside my Star Trek Original Series phaser and my Buck Rogers disintegrator pistol. And I promise - PROMISE - that it will never be used to remind Jaq the Cat that he shouldn't be on the kitchen table.

Art

Here's a bit of a departure from previous years:  art prints.  The Museum of Popular Culture (previously the EMP/SF Museum and Hall of Fame) has original series Star Trek movie posters on sale.  There are twenty sets available, made up of four posters each.  They're designed by illustrator Juan Ortiz, with a fabulous retro feel, and any one of them would make an excellent addition to the geek wall of your choice.  Just visit the euphoniously named MoPopShop to view the selection - they're all equally desirable.

NB:  MoPop prices are in US dollars.  However, carefully timed shopping will help with that.  From November 25th to December 2nd, enter checkout code mopop25 to save 25% off your entire order (which just about makes up for the exchange rate). From December 12th to December 17th, use mopopfast to get 15% off your entire order and an automatic no-cost upgrade to express shipping for standard ground shipping orders - which may or may not apply to Canadian shipping.

And that's this year's wish list.  Please note that these suggestions aren't restricted to co-workers:  friends, relatives and squaddies are equally welcome to take advantage of this list.  All I ask is that an anonymous comment be posted announcing that a particular item is being purchased - I'm fine with not being surprised if it prevents the arrival of two gift-wrapped copies of Batman Versus Superman.

EDIT: Please note that as per the comment below, Karli has stepped in and is using her blog to coordinate purchases so as to maintain secrecy.  Just when I think I can't find another reason to love you, my dear... 

  - Sid

P.S.  For anyone wishing to throw caution to the winds and seek out their own choice of casual geek gifts, HMV has an excellent selection of fandom items: mugs, buttons, coasters, t-shirts, etc.  Shoppers in the lower Mainland can visit the Robson Street or Metrotown outlets.

"You maniacs! "

"Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"

George Taylor, The Planet of the Apes

And here we are on the morning after the American presidential election, looking at the news that Donald Trump is the next president of the United States. In some strange way, I'm excited - between this and the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series, it's obvious that at some point in the recent past we've gone through the looking glass, or maybe down the rabbit hole - something like that, some kind of departure from the linear, probability-based, cause-and-effect reality that we used to inhabit.

As a result, I now fully expect Bigfoot and his wife to come strolling out of the forest, space aliens to land on the White House lawn and ask if they can talk to the new guy, cold fusion to become a proven source of cheap safe energy, and the Loch Ness Monster to rise to the surface of her cold, watery home and take a deep, deep breath.

After this, anything's possible.

  - Sid

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November."

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V."

V, V for Vendetta

I know of no reason the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.

  - Sid